Kolkata peaceful, but Left in fresh embarrassment

The Left Front lurched into a fresh embarrassment today, thanks to a statement against Taslima Nasreen by state Left Front chairman Biman Bose, while the Trinamool Congress scored brownie points with an unusually restrained and mature response to the large-scale violence that shut down nearly a third of Kolkata yesterday and left a trail of damaged properties and dozens of burnt vehicles.

On the positive side, life in Kolkata bounced back to normal today with the government indicating it would not re-impose curfew. However, it retained some Army personnel in the sensitive areas.

Trinamool leader Mamata Banerjee today reiterated her call to people in the disturbed localities to shun violence and maintain peace, and refused to be drawn into criticism of the administration in troubled times.

In contrast, a provocative Bose had said yesterday: "If public peace is being disturbed by Taslima Nasreen, then she should leave the city."

Later, without withdrawing the remark or apologising to Nasreen, Bose said he had made the statement after a tiring peace march through the affected areas and had actually wanted to say that the visa granted to Nasreen had to be cancelled by the Centre and not by the state.

Criticising Bose's remarks, CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta said: "I strongly disagree with him (Bose)."

Dasgupta told reporters outside Parliament that every writer had a freedom and the Left Front government in Bengal should ensure that it was protected.

But Bose found unexpected support from West Bengal Assembly Speaker Hasim Abdul Halim, who said, "If Taslima was the cause of the disturbance, the state should write to the Centre reporting this "" the problems caused by her presence are real".

Bose's comments were directly against the official line of the state government that Nasreen was welcome to live in the city.

The difference between the government and Left Front positions was taken up by Opposition leaders to criticise both at public meetings today.

Meanwhile, in Delhi, the Congress accused the West Bengal government of applying different yardsticks in dealing with the situation in Nandigram and Kolkata.